They Call Her BOLD

Meseret Defar, The World's Best 5000m Runner

Meseret Defar was agitated. She had arrived in Boston two years after her first attempt on the world indoor 3,000m mark there, determined to finally break the record, and confident she was in shape to do so. But the day after her arrival on Wednesday, January 24, 2007, she had come down with flu-like symptoms. "My back ached, and I had to force myself to warm up and train," she said later. "At night, I couldn’t sleep. I had a fever, a headache and body aches."

On race day, January 27, she first watched as her Ethiopian compatriot, Tirunesh Dibaba, slashed her own 5,000m world indoor record. "When you see someone in your field running such a fast time, it inspires you too," said Defar. But she had been unable to get rid of a pounding headache, and, moments before her race, she was stressed. She paced trackside with a frown on her face. She tried wearing a head band, in the hopes it would apply pressure that would suppress the pain. "My head was throbbing and the pain was so bad, I felt as if I would fall, so I wanted something to tie on it, but I worried it would be uncomfortable," she said. So she just took to the track.

Despite a valiant effort, Defar clocked 8:30.31, missing the 8:27.86 set in 2006 by Russian Liliya Shobukhova. As she crossed the line, she collapsed to the ground, then sat up and was sick on the track. She made her way to the changing area and lay flat on her back. Fellow Ethiopian Yimenashu Taye stroked her hair and draped her warm-up jacket over her prone figure. Two races later, when Defar finally sat up, the ground where her head had lain was damp from her sweat.

Later that evening, Defar lay curled on top of her hotel bed, her eyelids half-shut, her eyes red. Friends sat around the room and her husband, Tewodros Hailu, tended to her needs. She looked gravely ill.

Visibly stronger the next day, with Hailu by her side, Defar talked about the ordeal. "My body was racked with pain, and I was not in competition mode," she said. Nevertheless, Defar, whose name means "bold," in the Amharic language of Ethiopia, was determined to attack the record the following week in Stuttgart, if possible. "Deep inside of me, I know I can do it," she said.

In Stuttgart, Defar swept past Russian pacesetter Olga Komyagina before the pre-planned 2,000m mark, and then, with a final 200 run in 32.0, slashed the record by over four seconds, clocking a phenomenal 8:23.72. Her elation was written all over her face. "I was very happy," she said later. "I could have run better than that, but as I had been sick in Boston, I only expected to break the record by a small margin. But it was broken by more than four seconds. That was great, and I was thrilled."

These same elements — a fierce determination to realize her potential, particularly in the face of adversity; an expressive personality that reveals her joys and frustrations; and "Teddy," as she calls him, by her side — have been the hallmarks of Meseret Defar’s career. At 3,000m, she has a World Youth silver medal, two World Indoor titles, a road world best and the Stuttgart indoor world record; but the event that captures Defar’s own heart is the 5,000m. She took an African Championships silver in 2000, Olympic gold in 2004, and set world outdoor road and track bests in 2006. Her drive, passion and companion have served her well through it all.